Melissa surprised me this weekend with some awesome birthday surprises for my 30th birthday!

On Friday, she threw me a surprise dinner at Yang Chow’s in Hollywood (yum… slippery shrimp!) with all of my favorite California people, including Nicole, Meg, Lexi and Marco, and Briya along with my sister Katelyn.

And if that wasn’t awesome enough, we stayed over Friday night at the Tropicana Inn so we could spend the following day at Disneyland!

When my girlfriend plans, she plans well! The most fascinating part was that she got everyone to go along with it and no one (well maybe Marco a little) blew the secret… no matter how many times I tried to get them to spill the beans.

Melissa, Nic, Kate, and I did Disneyland the right way on Saturday — we stayed from open to close, which was 8:30am – midnight! I really didn’t think I’d make it through all of that, but we were having so much fun that besides my feet hurting a little, I didn’t really notice.

And we went on over 25 rides throughout the day, including that awesome 3D simulation Star Wars ride, Star Tours, twice. The second time without a wait!

Actually the wait wasn’t bad at all the entire day, despite it being a holiday weekend because the yearly passes most people have expired the day before. So we were on most rides within 15 minutes, which was great.

We stayed for the fireworks show. That was cool to see the fireworks over the giant Disney castle.

But even better than that was the Fantasmic show, which takes place on the Rivers of the America in on and around the river, on boats, via projections on the spraying water, and on boats like a giant Pirate ship!

It was so amazing and I definitely recommend you see it when you get a chance.

So I turned 30 in style and with an awesome surprise weekend thrown by the woman I love the most. Can’t beat that! <#

And you’re looking it at.

This very site has gone through many different looks throughout the years, since I started blogging back in 2000.

What you see here is the design I am most proud of, not only because it is the most awesome one yet, but also because I was finally able to incorporate some of my favorite memories in photographic form.

A lot of important things in my life have changed in the past 2 years or so and more are on the way. I’m happy to bring them to you via this updated design.

Of course what brings you here (besides Google searches for “Conan O’Brien guests“, “definition of cynicism“, and “Citi Field ribs“) is my witty retelling of real life stories through the eyes of a New Yorker. And no worries, all of that is still here too and will continue to be.

If you have any suggestions about things I should write about in the future, or if you’d like to collaborate between blogs, drop me a line in the comments and let me know. I’d love to hear from you.

Until then, thanks for stopping by, from a New Yorker who doesn’t know when to quit!

Its usually a tricky question to answer, especially if the person asking hasn’t lived in New York themselves.

Or I just show them this:

That right there is why I LOVE NEW YORK so much. :)

Apparently, they’ve been around for 23 years, however only 2 of those in the New York area.

I ordered a cheddar cheeseburger with lettuce, onion, chopped garlic, artichoke hearts, and BBQ sauce. Delicious!

I voted this morning before work with my sister and my dad. New York State switched to new paper/scantron ballots from the old metal machines with the switches and the curtain. I suppose these voting machines were chosen to be less susceptible to tampering, but if you’ve ever heard the name Diebold, that certainly is not the case.

Oh well, I wonder how the elderly are going to take to filling in ovals with a flare marker in all the appropriate columns.

When we arrived at the polls, I stopped to take a photo outside of the polling place. It has become a tradition, ever since the first time I was able to vote. For me, that photo sort of doubles as proof and a recognition of all that the right to vote represents to me.

Once inside the gymnasium-turned polling place, we were greeted with familiar faces — the same group of elderly volunteers we seem to see there every year.

Once I gave my name and address the gray-haired woman helping me turned to the lady next to her and declared “See?! There is a [name of my street]! Told you!” Although that was a little disconcerting, I responded by saying that yes, in fact, my street existed, and that it was only a block or two away.

The voting process wasn’t too dissimilar to marking Scantron sheets back in middle school, which sort of seemed appropriate since I was voting inside of one. Then I was lead towards an elections volunteer wearing a pretty stylish hat who showed me how to feed the ballot into the scanning machine.

The machine reminded me of the annoying money-taking thing on a vending machine because it didn’t pull my ballot inside right away, but sort of backed it out, then back in, then back out again, before finally taking it.

I stood there and watched until the screen said BALLOT ACCEPTED, and then waited for my family and got some free Halloween candy sitting there in a bowl as a reward.

Not bad, I thought, did my civic duty. See you next year, when we re-elect Obama.

Blogging once a day, every day for a month is something I’ve done here at CityCynic.com before, sometimes not even during November. But November is the tradition. And since another very talented blogger, Miss from JustOneMiss.com, literally challenged me to a blog-off the next 30 days, I AM IN!

I love blogging and lately I’ve had a difficult time finding enough time to write consistently lately, so this challenge may be just what I need.

I haven’t decided yet if I’m going to use a theme, like the 30 Days of Truth meme that’s going around, but we’ll see what I come up with.

Happy November (I’ve gotta go find a sweatshirt, its getting cold here in New York) — and feel free to join the NaBloPoMo challange along with me!

CBS made this show from a Twitter account? What accounts will they use for show ideas next?

CBS’ new sitcom $#*! My Dad Says starring William Shatner is based on the Twitter account of Justin Halpern, who lives with his 89-year-old father. The show’s premiere brought in 12.5 million viewers last week.

Maybe that’s why CBS is planning another TV show based on a Twitter account, @shhdontellsteve. That one is about a guy writing about what his roommate does and is currently being made into a pilot called “Don’t Tell Steve”.

Now I’m not too familiar with that second Twitter account, but if CBS is so intent on making shows from Twitter accounts, I might as well share a list that the network’s execs can use for future pilot ideas:

1) @WolfBlitzerCNN – Come on, Things Wolf Blitzer Says is sure to be a hit. Watch out William Shatner, Wolfie’s gunning for you!

2) @JohnCMayer – A show about a musician who connects with viewers through Twitter? That could be cool. Oh wait, just like John Mayer’s Twitter account, this show has also been cancelled.

3) @PerezHilton – Sure Perez Hilton initially got famous by drawing penises on photos of Lindsay Lohan and then blogging them, but a show about a gossip blogger becoming famous for his celebrity news tweeting would be cool.

4) @50Cent – I guess its not totally surprising that rapper 50 Cent employs no filter while he tweets, but between all the retweets of half-naked, booty-showing photos of fans he retweets, plus gems like the following, I would actually watch this show: “This b*tch is a super freak for real @beautydiorxz yal want some p*ssy follow this b*tch she crazy as hell look at her page.”

5) @KBurkhardtSNY – Kevin Burkhardt is the New York Mets’ on-field reporter who happens to tweet in the same way that he reports on the baseball team  — in a timely, relevant, and totally original manner. I’d love to see a show about an on-the-field reporter who covers baseball from unique angles and eventually earns his way into the broadcast booth.

6) @MollieWestie – Mollie the Westie is just one of thousands of Dogs Who Twitter. And let’s not forget cats who tweet, like @sockington who loves writing about his kibble! How about a show called Paws to Tweet, CBS?

7) @LilPecan – Speaking of pets with twitter accounts, Lil Pecan is a self-described “social media guinea pig” from Boston with over 3,500 followers, that is often snarky while defending the fact that her human doesn’t write her account, like some other animals. A talking-and-typing guinea pig right there on your television?!? Instant ratings!

8) @ev & @biz – Evan Williams and Biz Stone are the creators of Twitter. Could you imagine a show about the guys responsible for the newest way the world communicates these days? Hey, they made a movie about Facebook…

9) @AplusK – Ashton Kutcher helped put Twitter on the map with his competition to 1,000,000 followers against CNN and his straightforward tweeting. How about a show that focuses on  a celebrity’s struggle with what to share and what to keep private and how it affects his family? Sort of part-reality, part-entertainment? I’m sure MTV has a time slot or two open still.

10) @YOU! – Maybe you are the next tweeter that would make a good subject for a show because you use Twitter in a unique way that is also entertaining. Hell, if I’d follow you, why wouldn’t I also wanna watch a show about you too? At least CBS thinks I should…

What other tweeters/tweeple do you think CBS should consider for their own TV shows based on their twitter accounts? Share in the comments below!

Cheddar cheeseburger, french fries, and creamy cheese sauce!

This year was no different and we found ourselves in Northern Jersey cheering on the Red & Yellow Knight, while we consumed a meal fit for a nobleman of a half chicken, a rib, potato, tomato bisque, garlic bread, and an apple turnover. (All without utensils.)

We even bought my dad the Father’s Day package and he got a special photo of him sitting in a royal throne, along with getting his name announced as a special guest, and getting a special flag to wave.

For those of you who haven’t been to Medieval Times, the story involves several good knights and an evil and jealous Green Knight that basically tries to kill everyone.

So, of course, our knight was the Green Knight’s first victim, suffering a most mortal would after getting knocked off his horse (literally) during a fight-to-the-death jousting session.

We all enjoyed the one-on-one combat and the story line, even if it has gotten somewhat familiar after several times there. And the hawk that they let fly loose around the arena is also pretty cool, despite the fact that I always feel tempted to lift up my chicken leg to suddenly become part of the show.

The only drawback this year was that the actor playing the King sounded so whiny and nasally that we had trouble understanding what he was saying. Some king that was… sounded like a cross between Milhouse from The Simpsons and Gilbert Godfried.

But along with the entertainment and a few royal steins of beer we all enjoyed ourselves and will likely be back again next year.

This past year has been both amazing and exhilarating. We’ve traveled and we’ve spent time together at home. We’ve both seen new places and met new people that have made our lives better. We’ve learned just how great helping each other feels. We’ve enjoyed being in sync and seen more than enough signs of “446″ together.

We’ve tweeted, blogged, and dailyboothed. We’ve used thousands and thousands of cellphone minutes.

She’s inspired me to express myself again in word and photographs. We created a baseball blog together about our favorite MLB teams, the Dodgers and the Mets.

We’ve shared new foods together and enjoyed new experiences. We both loved going to the movies and listening to music together. We’ve decided on and then watched our television shows together.

We’ve shared our love of dinosaurs and history together. We’ve traded baseball stats and players our teams have shared.

We’ve heard our song, You & Me by Dave Matthews Band, many many times, just about everywhere:

And we’ve laughed, cried, joked, debated, discussed, lived, and loved together more than either of us every have before.

And all of that is exactly why our relationship works so well and why she means so much to me.

I’m looking forward to what the next years will bring! Love you, sweetie! <#